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The latest from the blog

Prayer is probably the area I struggle with most on a consistent basis. Not so much in not doing it (although there have been days), but in praying carelessly. Praying as though I were on autopilot instead of communing with the Father.

That’s something I was reminded of and convicted by as I read a new book on prayer by Albert Mohler. The other day, my review of this book went live over at The Gospel Coalition:

I remember one night coming home from work, completely exhausted, and joining my family to give thanks for our dinner. As I opened my mouth, I began to pray in a way that didn’t make sense: rather than thanking God for providing for our needs, I was asking him to help us sleep well (which I clearly needed to do). I’ve had moments like this when praying with my children; I’ve realized that while I’m saying something true, it’s exactly the same as what I prayed the previous seven nights. A general blessing repeated on autopilot rather than a heartfelt desire to connect with our Father.

To help us connect with God in this deeper way, Albert Mohler—president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and TGC Council member—has written The Prayer That Turns the World Upside Down: The Lord’s Prayer as a Manifesto for Revolution. He desires that all believers be deeply engaged in prayer and recognizes that we, just like the first followers of Jesus, must turn to Jesus to discover what that means. We need to learn to pray as Jesus taught us in the Lord’s Prayer. And to do that, we must discover what the Lord’s Prayer actually means.

I have, however, been blogging consistently for several years all while trying to do it with as much excellence as I know how. This means I’ve learned too many things the hard way, and I’d love to spare you some of my frustrations. Below are some of the questions that I wish I was asking before I started a blog. If you’ve already started one, perhaps they can help guide your next steps.

Avengers: Infinity War

Children should be exposed to history early and often through artifacts, oral stories, old art, and especially good books. History gives our children so many benefits. It is a fantastic—though frequently neglected—parenting tool.

As a pastor’s kid in a nondenominational evangelical church in the South, it was impossible not to notice that there was, in fact, an order of worship—an opening hymn, maybe a prelude by the choir (sometimes they even wore robes), followed by a welcome from my dad. There was a “turn around and greet your neighbor” moment, then offering, the doxology, then communion, then a sermon and an invitation, and a closing hymn. Like clockwork.

Every month or so, I come across a news article or a new book that claims the evangelical movement is falling apart. We’re on the precipice of complete collapse, some say. “The Church in America is dying, dying I tell you!” We’re witnessing the last gasps of evangelical Christianity. The “nones” are on the rise, secularism is the future, and Christianity will soon be powerless.

Reading Writers is back with a new episode this week recorded from behind the stage at a church planting conference (which explains my hushed and gravelly voice)! Today, we’re talking about the relationship between technology, rest, and reading a physical book. This is a fun one!

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